Water dispersal apparatus



7 o. R. SIMMONS WATER DISPERSAL APPARATUS March 19, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 13, 1962 INVENTOR. BYODYS R. SIMMONS HIS ATTORNEY March 19, 1963 o. R. SIMMONS 3,081,949

WATER DISPERSAL APPARATUS Filed Feb. 13, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l2 2| I3 I I 9 23 36 25 36 E0: H I 35 S 24 (F I I a 9 I7 5 5 FIG. 2 FIG. 4

1| I /ll/ 2 ZO l FIG. 5 FIGJ 2O 20 J l /l'f/ I l /I r-l FIG. 8 FIG.9 A FIG. IO

INVENTOR.

ODYS R. SIMMONS HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,081,949 WATER DISPERSAL APPARATUS Odys R. Simmons, 4823 Eppes, Houston 21, Tex.

Filed Feb. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 173,055

6 Claims. (Cl. 239--383) This invention relates to an improved water sprinkler of the type which is useful for gardening or spray irrigation.

'Water sprinklers of many types have been proposed, but mostwater sprinklers water circular areas, and when a large area is to be watered there are frequently spaces between the watered areas, and other spaces which receive a double Watering. The main object of this invention is to provide a means whereby this may be avoided, by

arranging the sprinkler to water substantially square areas. The invention can be extended to water other than straight sided shapes such as triangulars or pentagons if this is desired.

In its simplest form the invention comprises an angled deflector positioned above a plurality of equally spaced apertures from a body adapted to be connected to a hose line.

The invention is described hereunder with reference to two embodiments which however are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, these embodiments being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sprinkler according to a first embodiment,

FIG. 2 is a section through FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sprinkler according to a second embodiment,

FIG. 4 is a section through FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 illustrates schematically an arrangement with a flat cone and apertures being positioned to direct water part-way up the conical surface,

FIG. 6 illustrates a 45 degree cone with the apertures positioned near the lower end of the surface,

FIG. 7 illustrates the pattern obtained from either arrangement illustrated in FIG. 5 or 6,

FIG. 8 illustrates a sharp cone with the water adapted .to be directed part-way up the surface of the cone,

FIG. 9 illustrates a 45 degree conew-ith the water directed to strike the conical surface near its upper end, and

FIG. 10 illustrates the pattern which can be obtained by an arrangement as shown in either 'FIG. 8 or FIG. 9.

Referring first to the embodiment of FIGS. land 2, a hollow body 1 is formed of molded plastic and is molded to a base 2, the body 1 being formed with a threaded inlet ferrule 3. The upper surface 4 of the body 1 is centrally apertrued with a screw threaded aperture 5 disposed with- .in an inwardly positioned boss 6, and this screw threaded aperture 5 receives a bearing member 8 on which a conical deflector 9 is freely rotatable. The conical deflector 9 is formed of molded plastic and is provided with three outwardly extending vanes 10 which spiral around the 8 passes outwardly radially through the radial apertures 16 to impinge against the inner conical surface13 of the conical deflector 9 and to urge rotation of the conical deflector 9 by passing upwardly and reacting against the inner vanes 12.

The upper surface 4 of the hollow body 1 is apertured 3,081,949 Patented Mar. 19, 1963 being angled outwardly slightly as shown in FIG. 2 so that water issuing therefrom will strike the outer surface 11 of the conical deflector 9 some distance below its upper edge 21, and -will have an initial radial component of force in order to attain a maximum degree of outward throw by the deflector. The action of the water issuing from the jet holes 20 and striking the Outer vanes 10 is also to assist in the rotation of the conical deflector 9'. The outer vanes 10 and the inner vanes 12 further assist in the throwing of the water outwardly, and the included conical angle of both the inner surface 13 and the outer surface 11 is arranged to be approximately degrees to insure a maximum throw.

By relative rotation of the adjusting member 15 and the hollow body 1 the pattern of the Water discharged through the sprinkler can be varied from a somewhat square pattern to a round pattern, while if the adjusting member 15 is screwed into the bearing member 8 so as to blanket the radial apertures 16 the quantity of discharge can be reduced progressively until the only-discharge is that through the jet holes 20, so that by adjusting the member 15 it is possible to vary the flow rate and thereby vary the distance of throw and volume of water discharged through the sprinkler; This gives a wide range for fluctuations in water pressures.

Referring now to the second embodiment which is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the maindiflerence is that the deflector is not conical in shape and is not rotational. In this embodiment the deflector 23 is star shaped, somewhat of the shape of the well known star fish or star flower, and has a maximum included angle of about 90 degrees, so that the outer surface 24 of the deflector and the inner surface 25 of the deflector are disposed at about 45 degrees, again to insure maximum throw. The deflector 23 is screwed into the screw threaded aperture 5 in the inwardly positioned boss 6, but the inwardly positioned boss 6 extends below the lower end 27 of the deflector 23 and terminates in a thread 28 which is smaller in diameter than the .threaded aperture 5, and this thread 28 receives a screw threaded adjusting member 29 which can be screwed into or out of the aperture 28 by means of a turn screw slot 30 so as to increase or decrease the annular space 32 between the head 33 of the adjusting pattern shown in FIG. 7 where the water issues from with four equally spaced jet holes 20, these jet holes 20 member 29 and the inner surface 25 of the deflector 23, these progressively reducing or increasing the water flow upwardly through apertures 34 in the inwardly positioned boss 6, and outwardly through the annular space 32.

As in the first embodiment, the body 1 has four jet holes 20 which are disposed beneath the deflector 23- and which direct water on 'to the outer surface 24 and the deflector 23, and the star shape of the deflector 23 assists in spreading the water evenly over the square area which is to be watered. However, a square area can still be watered even if the deflector member 23- is of simpleconicalform instead of being star" shaped. Projections 35 are posiitioned near the upper edge 36 of the deflector 23in order to retain the water in a finely divided form.

The principle underlying the constructional variations which may be made to either. one of the abovejembodiments-ror' to any other embodimenternploying this invention isillustrated in FIGS. 5 tr 10 inclusive. 5 illustrates'a flat cone 38 with the 'waterdirected on to its outer surface 39 some distance below the upper edge 40, and this will result in a pattern as illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 6 shows a further way to achieve the the jetvholes. 20 on to an outer conical surface 42 of a deflector 43, the .outer conical surface 42 being inclined at 45 degrees. The water in traversing an excessive distance along the outer conical surface 42 will follow a path of impingement between the streams issuing from the jet holes 21? as illustrated by the arrows of FIG. 7.

FIG.

FIG. 8 illustrates a very sharp cone 45 with water from the jet holes 20 striking the outer surface 46 partway down from its upper edge 47, and this will achieve a pattern as illustrated in FIG. 10.

FIG. 9 illustrates a cone 48 which has its outer sur face 49 disposed at 45 degrees, as in FIG. 6, but in FIG. 9 the water issuing from the jet holes 20 strikes the conical surface 49 near the upper edge 50' of the cone 48, and there is insuflicient traverse of the streams from the jet holes 20 over the conical surface 49 to achieve a-high degree of impingement so that the pattern of spray is as illustrated in FIG. 10 and the main water flow is as shown in the arrows of FIG. 10.

A consideration of the above embodiments will how that with one spray impinging on the upper surface and another on the lower surface, a very fine control is obtained, and it is possible to achieve a very even distribution.

It will be seen that the number of variations and the number of embodiments within this invention can be widely varied, and yet still utilize the principle which is illustrated in FIGS. to inclusive.

What is claimed is:-

1. Fluid dispersing apparatus comprising a chamber having a central relatively large aperture located in the upper wall thereof and having other relatively small apertures located in said upper wall in generally regular arrangement about said central aperture, 7

a hollow and generally comically-shaped open-ended dispersing means arranged with its apex end inserted in said central aperture in a manner to connect with said central aperture and also adapted to outwardly divert streams of fluid issuing upwardly through said small apertures against the exterior surface of said dispersing means, and

a deflecting means adjustably inserted in said open apex end of said dispersing means and adapted to form fluid issuing upwardly through said central aperture into a similar plurality of stream and to direct said similar streams in equi-distant lateral directions against the interior surface of said dispersing means in volume functionally related to the extent of insertion of said deflecting means in said open apex end of said dispersing means.

2. Fluid dispersing apparatus comprising a chamber having a relatively large central aperture located in the upper wall thereof and having a plurality of relatively small apertures located in said upper wall circumferentially in generally regular arrangement about said central aperture,

a hollow and generally comically-shaped and openended dispersing means arranged with its apex end fixedly connected to said chamber in a manner to connect with said central aperture and adapted to outwardly divert streams of fluid issuing upwardly through said small apertures against the exterior surfaces of said dispersing means, and

a deflecting means adjustably inserted in said open apex end of said dispersing means and into said central aperture and arranged and adapted to form fluid issuing upwardly through said central aperture into a similar plurality of streams directed in generally regular lateral arrangement outwardly against the interior and toward the larger end of said dispersing means in a manner such that said streams issuing from said central aperture combine substantially with said streams issuing from said small apertures in volume functionally related to the extent of insertion of said reflecting means in said disbursing means to form a lateral pattern of fluid disbursal corresponding to the number of said streams of fluid.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said small apertures are located in said upper wall of said chamber in relatively close proximity to said central aperture such that said streams of fluid issuing upwardly therethrough are directed against said disbursing means at points relatively near the apex thereof.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said small apertures are located in said upper wall of said chamber in a relatively displaced relationship to said central aperture such that said streams of fluid issuing upwardly therethrough are directed against said disbursing means at points relatively near the larger end of said disbursing means.

5. Fluid dispersing apparatus comprising a chamber having a relatively large central aperture located in the upper wall thereof and having four relatively small other apertures located in said upper wall in generally equi-distant arrangement about said central aperture,

a hollow and generally comically-shaped dispersing means having a plurality of curvilinear projections arranged on its exterior and interior surfaces,

said dispersing means being rotatably disposed in an inverted manner with its apex end connecting with said central aperture in a manner such that fluid issuing upwardly through said small apertures against said projections on said exterior surfaces rotates said dispersing means on said chamber, and

a deflecting means adjustably inserted in said open apex end of said dispersing means and adapted and arranged to form fluid issuing upwardly through said central aperture into a similar plurality of streams directed against the interior surface of said dispersing means in generally coincident lateral arrangement with said streams issuing from said small apertures.

6. Fluid dispersing apparatus comprising chamber having a relatively large central aperture located in the upper wall thereof and having four relatively small other apertures located in said upper wall in generally equi-distant arrangement about said central aperture, and

a hollow and generally comically-shaped dispersing means having a plurality of curvilinear projections on the interior and exterior thereof, said dispersing means being rotatably arranged in an inverted manner on said chamber such that the apex end of said dispersing means connects with said central aperture, and adapted and arranged to divert fluid issuing upwardly through said small apertures into four outwardly directed streams and to form said streams into a generally rectangular lateral dispersal pattern.

said dispersing means being further arranged and adapted to direct fluid issuing upwardly through said central aperture against said interior projections,

said other apertures being further located in said upper wall of said chamber in a manner to direct upwardly issuing streams of fluid against said exterior projections in a manner to rotate said dispersing means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

5. FLUID DISPERSING APPARATUS COMPRISING A CHAMBER HAVING A RELATIVELY LARGE CENTRAL APERTURE LOCATED IN THE UPPER WALL THEREOF AND HAVING FOUR RELATIVELY SMALL OTHER APERTURES LOCATED IN SAID UPPER WALL IN GENERALLY EQUI-DISTANT ARRANGEMENT ABOUT SAID CENTRAL APERTURE, A HOLLOW AND GENERALLY CONICALLY-SHAPED DISPERSING MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF CURVILINEAR PROJECTIONS ARRANGED ON ITS EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR SURFACES, SAID DISPERSING MEANS BEING ROTATABLY DISPOSED IN AN INVERTED MANNER WITH ITS APEX END CONNECTING WITH SAID CENTRAL APERTURE IN A MANNER SUCH THAT FLUID ISSUING UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID SMALL APERTURES AGAINST SAID PROJECTIONS ON SAID EXTERIOR SURFACES ROTATES SAID DISPERSING MEANS ON SAID CHAMBER, AND A DEFLECTING MEANS ADJUSTABLY INSERTED IN SAID OPEN APEX END OF SAID DISPERSING MEANS AND ADAPTED AND ARRANGED TO FORM FLUID ISSUING UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID CENTRAL APERTURE INTO A SIMILAR PLURALITY OF STREAMS DIRECTED AGAINST THE INTERIOR SURFACE OF SAID DISPERSING MEANS IN GENERALLY COINCIDENT LATERAL ARRANGEMENT WITH SAID STREAMS ISSUING FROM SAID SMALL APERTURES. 